


Sparkeater

by Predaking



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One)
Genre: Gen, Silly, Sparkeater!Rodimus, non-canon pronouns
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-22
Updated: 2016-12-22
Packaged: 2018-09-11 02:21:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8950024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Predaking/pseuds/Predaking
Summary: When you're a captain of a ship, some things slip past your attention. Rowdy crew members, important dates, the fact your body is mutating into a sparkeater. You know, normal stuff.





	

**Author's Note:**

> this is based on this theory post i saw about roddy being a sparkeater and not realizing it + convo from Public Enemy #1 
> 
> this post http://predaking.tumblr.com/post/154568862811/viisivarvaslaiskiainen-iopele
> 
> also non canon pronouns for roddy, she/her

Five years ago the Lost Light had began it’s quest through space. Also five years ago, a sparkeater found its way on board the ship. On the same day, said sparkeater was killed by Rodimus (she still bragged about it) and that was the end of it. Well, supposed to be the end of it.

Five years of galavanting through space on what was more like the most eventful road trip ever than an actual quest, and the sparkeater became rather dull in comparison to the other stories the Lost Light members had to tell. People came and went, and died, and soon enough you had a good chunk of the crew who weren’t even there. 

Well there was a reason the sparkeater was still relevant, despite being long dead, and that reason had to do with none other than co-captain Rodimus. The sparkeater, being in such close proximity with her, should’ve killed her on spot. Surprisingly, it didn’t (along with Brainstorm, but that was an issue for another time), and as the days went by Ratchet was starting to think he knew the reason why.

One day, Rodimus showed up to a meeting, and as she flashed her usual wide grin Minimus flinched back in surprise at the sharp fangs that hadn’t been there the day before. And, her reaction to this?

“Dude that’s so fucking rad.” 

That was only the beginning, though. After a while she started to disappear for days at a time; and never seemed to remember being absent. She laughed whenever it was brought up, thinking that everyone was in on some prank she wasn’t going to fall for. 

And even later down the line, Ratchet had to open her up for surgery after she ate all of Megatron’s pens out of spite. Her internals had turned clear, the only thing protecting them from view was the protective outer panels. To which Rodimus oh so eloquently reacted with, “Huh, that’s weird.”

Ratchet, frankly, was tired of her pretending everything was fine. She had to own up to what was happening to her sometime, right? Plus, the sooner the better, or else Ratchet feared she wouldn’t be able to control her own instincts and would end up attacking the crew. However Rodimus, being Rodimus, refused to listen when Ratchet told her they needed to talk. She had an endless supply of excuses. 

“Drift and I are going to watch a movie.”

“Seriously? I’m in the middle of a date, Ratchet! Can’t we do this some other time?”

“Captain meeting, sorry you’re not invited.”

“Whatever, old man.” (This one was her favorite.)

Soon Ratchet found out, if he wanted to get anything from her, he’d have to get her alone. Which was harder than it sounded. If Rodimus was ever by herself she’d seek out Drift or Magnus, she really hated being alone. Ratchet had come up with a failsafe plan to get her to come by herself, though, and it involved visiting her office.

Rodimus’s office looked more like a teenage girl’s bedroom than a captain’s quarters, Ratchet could almost picture the “NO BOYS ALLOWED (except Drift)” sign on the door. He sighed, raising his fist to tap his knuckles against the metal, hoping it would be heard over the loud music. He waited, and finally a “YEAH?” sounded out, permitting his entry.

Rodimus was sitting at her desk, permanent marker in one hand, tongue sticking out slightly as she worked on a doodle on her desk. It was a stick figure with helm finials to look like Drift, standing behind bars with the words “GAY BABY JAIL” written next to it, and an arrow connecting them. Drift was sitting across from her in a spinning chair, one leg crossed on it and the other being used to spin himself in circles. He waved at Ratchet when he walked in.

“Hey gramps, what brings you here?” Rodimus grinned, setting down her marker and folding her hands neatly in an attempt to look like a put together commanding officer. The “gramps” nickname wasn’t helping.

Ratchet cut straight to the point, having decided his faux story on the way over. “I need to give you a check up. There was a file sent to the commanding officers that might’ve contained a virus.” 

Rodimus looked confused. “Just me? What about Drift?” 

Drift stopped spinning momentarily to mock offense at Ratchet, pouting and placing a hand on his chest. “Am I not commanding officer enough for your virus? That hurts, Ratchet.” 

Ratchet rolled his eyes, “I’ll check up on him later, I can’t imagine dealing with you both at the same time. Come on, chop chop.” 

Rodimus huffed, pushing herself up from her desk and storing the marker in her subspace. She made an “I’m watching you” motion at Drift as she followed Ratchet out. “Don’t mess up my drawing, the world needs to know.” 

The trip to the medbay was short, and Rodimus didn’t talk a lot on the way over. Probably just out of annoyance that she had been dragged out over this. Ratchet led her into an operating room, flipping the “engaged” sign on before going in.

“You aren’t going to do surgery on me right?” Rodimus said, a look of fear crossing her face as Ratchet instructed her to sit on the table. 

“No, just needed a place where we could talk in private.” Ratchet pulled up a chair, plopping down in it and steepling his fingers in his lap. “Listen, I lied to you, there is no virus. We need to talk.”

Immediately Rodimus whined, flopping onto her back with a loud  _ thunk,  _ “ _ Raaatttcheeettt  _ I don’t  _ waaaaaant  _ to be lectured!”

Ratchet had been expecting this reaction, “Rodimus Prime can you please take this seriously?”

Uh oh, the full name. She groaned and sat up straight again, she wasn’t happy about it though, folding her arms and pouting, “Fine, I’ll listen, what do you want?” 

Ratchet was never one for delivering news gently, “Remember the sparkeater?” 

Rodimus rolled her eyes, “That thing? That happened like a gazillion years ago!”  

Ignoring her comment, Ratchet continued. “You and I both know what happened back then, and I’m telling you now, you can’t stop trying to hide it from the rest of the crew. It’s dangerous and if you don’t try to get help y-”

“What...are...you talking about?” Rodimus had gone from pouty to completely lost, Ratchet looked her over, and his jaw almost dropped. She wasn’t hiding it.

“God above, you really don’t know? How oblivious to your own body are you?”

“Am..am I dying Ratchet? Did the sparkeater kill me? Have I been a ghost for all these years and nobody’s had the guts to tell me?” She was starting to tear up as she talked, “Ratchet I don’t wanna die!” 

He put his hand on her shoulder, patting it to try and calm her down. “No, no you’re not dying. You’re...mutating? If that’s the right word. The sparkeater infected you, Rodimus.” 

The tears disappeared immediately, replaced with wide eyes and an open mouth. “What? That’s crazy, you’re lying to me again.” 

Ratchet moved from her shoulder to pick up her hand, making sure she was looking, and then squeezed the tips so claws popped out. “Tell me, where do you think you got these?” 

“Uh...I thought Drift put them in and I just forgot about them.” 

“Mmhm, and this?” Dropping her hand, moved it to pull up the corner of her mouth to show off her sharp teeth. 

“Mod I decided to get when I was drunk?”

“Do you just assume every weird thing that’s happened to your body is just a mod you forgot about?”

She emitted an “ehhh” noise and jiggled her hand, “I mean, I do get a lot of weird mods. Did you know I can breathe fire? I don't do it though, it kinda hurts.” 

Ratchet dragged his hand down his face, not responding.

“Uhm...if it’s anything though..My back’s been hurting for a while? Like, actually has been for about a year. I wasn’t going to tell you ‘cause I thought you’d get mad but, uhm...if you want to check it out now that we’re here that’d be great.” 

Ratchet didn’t say a word, walking around to the other side of the table so her back was facing him. He felt around under her spoiler until his hand hit a bundle of thick cables. He grabbed it, and yanked it out with a swift motion. A pop sounded and Rodimus yelped. 

“Yeah that feels a lot better, what was stuck in there?” She craned her neck to look, Ratchet showed off his findings. Four segmented cables with blades at the end, the dull grey unpainted metal a sharp contrast to her vibrant color scheme.

“Now do you believe me?” 

Rodimus didn’t respond, taking one of the cables in her hand and flipping it over to examine it. 

“Now I understand this is probably a shock to you, but like I said before I can help you control your urges. You won’t become s-”

“That’s so COOL!” she squeaked, jumping to her feet and dropping the tendrils, grinning wide as she tried to move them on her own. “Oh my god, Ratchet! I’m a sparkeater that’s awesome! I gotta paint these tentacle thingies though, they don’t match. OH MY GOD I gotta tell Drift he’s gonna lose it.” 

Not exactly the reaction Ratchet would have expected from someone after they were told they were a cannibalistic monster, but he'd take it. “Yes, but you really shouldn’t take this lightly you have to try t-” 

Rodimus waved her hand dismissively, “Yeah yeah great power great responsibility I’ve seen Spiderman like three times. Hey do you think you could put these back and then pull them out again when Drift gets here? No wait, I think that might hurt. Do you think I can sword fight with these? Whatever, anyway, great talk Ratchet, see you later!”

She was out the door and screeching at Drift over the comm. line before Ratchet could get another word out. He had a feeling he wouldn't have to worry too much about her. 

  
  



End file.
